Prison abuse s
Central N
rice for Peace and Socia
ustice
August 1992 PNL 59 8
Published Monthly by the Syracuse Peace Council - Founded in 1936 - ISSN 0735-4134
T4Syait Pe4ez Cei+c
Collectives, Committees & Project s
Alliances, Coalitions & Contacts
New people are always welcome to join any of these activites Contact th e
SPC office at 472-5478 or the person listed to find out what you can do .
SPC Staff
The Front Room Bookstore
Bill Mazza
Joe Carpente r
SPC Press
Bookkeepe r
Paul Pearce
Duane Hard y
Organizational Maintenanc e
Brent Bleie r
PNL Editorial Committe e
Paul Pearce, Jim Foley, Karen Kerney, Andy Molloy, Pete r
Carney, Will Ravenscroft, Debra Lyn Negus, Bill Mazza, Brya n
Duggan, Marie Margosian, J . Mole, Jessica Leite r
SPC-T V
Paul Pearce ,
Frederic Noyes
472-5478
Plowshares Craftsfair ,
Margaret Williams
422-420 1
Volunteer s
Marge Rusk, Duane Hardy, Susan Ashley, Chuck Durand ,
Marian Waelder, Phil Boyle, Pat Hoffman, Lorraine Piazza ,
earl Mellor, Eric Rossman, J . Mole, Mike Ruffo ,
Kathy Barry, Paul LeBarge, Joseph, Brian Caufield ,
Sue Nuccio, Michelle Brisson, Doree, Timothy Dickey
Statement
of Pnepos e
The Syracuse Peace Council (SPC), founded in 1936,
is an antiwar/social justice organization . Jt is community-based,
autonomous and funded by the contributions of its supporters .
SPC educates, agitates and organizes for a worl d
where war, violence_ and exploitation in any form will no longe r
exist . Jf challenge_s the existing unjust power relationships amon g
nations, among people and between ourselves and the environment . As members, we work to replace_ inequality, hierarchy,
domination and powerlessness with mutual respect, persona l
empowerment, cooperation and a sense of community .
Present social injustices cannot be understood in isolation from each other nor can they be overcome without recognizing their econo .nicand militaristic roots . SPCStreSSeS C1 Strateg y
that makes these connections clear . We initiate_ and suppor t
activities that help build this sense of community and help tea r
down the walls of oppression . A fundamental basis for peace an d
justice is an economic system that places human need abov e
monetary profit . We establish relationships among people base d
on cooperation rather than competition or the threat of destruction .
Our political values and personal lives shape and reflec t
each other . Jn both we are committed to nonviolent means o f
conflict resolution and to a process of decision-making tha t
responds to the needs of us all .
ACT-UP
475-154 4
Peace Brigades Internationa l
478-457 1
American Friends Servic e
Ed Kinane
Committee
475-482 2 P.E .A.C .E., Inc .
470-3300
Alliance-Psychiatric Syste m
Louis Clark
Survivor s
People Against the Death Penalty
George Ebert
475-4120 Pat Bane
469-3788
Alternative Media Network
People for Animal Rights
425-880 6 Linda De Stefano
475-006 2
Jim Dessauer
Alternative Orang e
Persons With AIDS Support
Blaine DeLancey
475-489 8
Hotlin e
Alternatives to Violence Projec t
Sandra
471-591 1
Andy Mager
607/842-651 5 Physicians for Social
Amnesty International 422-389 0
Responsibility
475-006 2
ANZUS Plowshares
422-318 1
Rainbow Coalition 27th C.D .
ARISE
472-317 1
Alan Rosenthal
472-433 1
Atlantic States Legal Foundation
Recycle First
471-2806
475-1170 SANE/Freeze of CNY
Citizens Against Radioactive
Diane Swords
478-744 2
607/753627 1
Save the County
637-6066
Dumping
CNY ACLU
SEEDS 607/749-281 8
Marcy Waldauer
471-282 1
Seneca Peace Council 568-234 4
CNY Environmen t
Service Employees Int l
Janine DeBaise
437-648 1
Chris Binaxis
424-1750
CNY N .O.W . 652-3823 Sierra Clu b
Coalition for Choice
677-9758
Eileen Clinton
471-6069
Community Coffeehouse
Small Claims Court Action
428-1743
443-140 1
Aspen Olmstead
Center
EGOS
492-3478 Social Workers for Peac e
Educators Social Responsibility
Dick Mundy
445-079 7
Lisa Mundy
445-0797 Socialist Party
478-0793
Food Bank of CNY
458-1554 Ron Ehrenreich
Forum for Fellow Travellers
Spanish Action Leagu e
423-0356 Sam Velasquez
471-376 2
Student African-Amer . Society
Friends of the Fillipino Peopl e
John & Sally Brule
445-0698
443-463 3
Gay/Lesbian Alliance 422-573 2
Syracuse Community Choi r
Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Student
Karen Mihalyi
428-872 4
Assoc . (SU)
443-3599 Syracuse Cooperative Federa l
Greens/Green Party
Credit Union
471-111 6
Aspen Olmstead
471-8438 Syracuse Covenant Sanctuary
Griffiss Peace Community
Shirley Novak
446-6099
Carrie & Tom
315/337-5265 Syracuse Cultural Workers
474-1132
Hotel Employees 150 437-0373
Dik Cool
Jail Ministry
424-187 7 Syracuse N .O.W .
472-3294
Lesbian/Gay Youth
443-3599 Syr . Real Food Coop
472-1385
Marxist Collective (SU) 423-9736 Syracuse Solidarity
423-9736
Native American Cultura l
Syracuse United Neighbors
Awareness Cmte
476-899 3
Rich Puchalski
476-7475
NAAC P
Truth in People's History
Van Robinson
422-6933, : Leon Modesto
472-6955
Natural Organic Farmers Assoc .
S .U. for Animal Rights
425-9362
Ammie Chickering 365-229 9
Christopher Moses
New Environ . Assoc . 446-800 9
University Democrats
Syracuse University
443-0958
New Jewish Agend a
Paul Weichselbaum
478-159 2 Urban League
Nonviolent Action Collective
Leon Modeste
472-6955
Frederic Noyes
437-9579 Veterans For Peace
North American Indian Club
Bill Cross
474-3762
Ginny Doctor
476-7425 Westcott Nation Music Assoc .
NYPIRG
476-838 1
Lee Spinks 428-882 1
Onon . Audobon
457-773 1
Women's Center (SU) 443-426 8
Open Hand Theatr e
Women's Health Outreac h
Geoff Navias
476-046 6
425-3653
Pax Christi
Women's INFO Center
Frank Woolever
446-1693
Diane Vance
478-4636
j% (If you do not see your group listed, please call & we will add it to the list . )
I
SPC Projects
Syracuse Network for Israeli Palestinian Peace
Brent Bleier
479-539 3
t
Syracuse Peace Council924 Burnet Ave . Syracuse, N .Y. 13203 (315) 472-547 8
In This Issue :
Being thin on help and short on time w e
present the following collection of summe r
musings . You won't find an article about mosquito spraying but the county still did it and we
still think it is wrong . Articles touch on a local
action at the Public Safety Building, the patenting by Multinationals of products from lesser
developed countries, a report on Africa n
People's Solidarity Day, and a sarcastic piec e
entitled Settling In After the Armchair War . I f
you read this on the beach be sure and wea r
your sunscreen !
The Peace Newsletter (PNL) is publishe d
monthly by the Syracuse Peace Council . SPC ,
founded in 1936, is the oldest community-base d
peace and justice organization in the United States .
The PNL strives to serve some basic functions as the internal organ of SPC and as a foru m
for articles which discuss issues of concern to th e
peace movement . The opinions expressed in th e
PNL reflect the diversity of opinions within SPC
itself . While we are not able to print every possibl e
viewpoint, we do welcome your letter and articl e
submissions as well as suggestions and assistance .
The PNL has very reasonable ad rates, cal l
or write for our rates . Movement groups are free to
reprint articles and graphics, but please giver cred its . For-profit groups, please inquire .
The PNL is available on microfilm fro m
University Microfilms, Inc., 300 N . Zeeb Rd ., An n
Arbor, MI 48106 .
Subscriptions are $12 ayear in the U .S ., $1 5
in Canada and Mexico and $25 overseas . Th e
institutional rate is $15. The PNL is free to prisoners
and low-income people. Your organization, co-op ,
etc . can receive 5-25 PNLs each month . Our circu lation is 4500 .
Contributions to SPC beyond PNL subscriptions support our activist programs . We al ways need your support . Peace Newsletter/Syracuse Peace Council, 924 Burnet Ave, Syracuse ,
NY 13203 .
PNL Distributors
Linda DeStefano, Yvonne, Joy Meeker ,
Jim Foley, Pat Hoffman, Elinor Cramer, Chuck
Durand, Debra Douthit, Rich Zalewski, Tommy
Scott, Fredrick Noyes, Will Ravenscroft, Deirdr e
Laughland
Mailing Party Helpers
Marge Rusk, Kathy Barry, Andy Molloy ,
BrentBleier, Joy Meeker, Gabe B arry-C aufield ,
Christian Spies-Rusk, Lisa Adler, Tim Farrel ,
and Brian Caufield
September Issue Deadlines
Articles
Ads
Calendar Items
Qeare t4ewCetirz
August 1992
PNL 598
Table of Contents
Letters
SPC Page
Why We Are Here
A Penalty of Death
Intellectual Property Rights and Wrongs
What is a Worker Cooperative? Unclassifieds
Community Update
On Solidarity
Settling In After An Armchair War
Healing Global Wounds Native Sovereignty Under Attack Again Nestle Gulps Up Carbonated Water Community Calendar
4
5
6
7
8
10
12
12-1 3
14
16
17
18
19
23
About the cover :
Kathleen Rumpf sits in her makeshift `prison' outside of the Syracus e
Public Safety Building . She built her cage and resided in it for 9 days livin g
on bread and water . Her action was designed to call attention to abuses i n
the PSB and to protest the construction of the new $53 million jail .
Kathleen is n o
stranger to prison is sues . She is active
with jail ministry an d
served one year i n
prison for a Plow shares disarmamen t
action. For more on
this please turn to page
6.
Photos by mole .
August 1 4
August 1 4
August 21
8/92 Peace Newsletter 3
In Defense of the Democratic Rights of the African
Community/In Support of the Post-King Verdict Rebellion s
0
N THE LAST DAY OF APRIL, th e
African community in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Oakland, Toronto, Philadel phia, Washington, DC, Milwaukee and else where, rose up, unified, and let the worl d
know that there is no justice for African Peopl e
in the U .S .
It is an ongoing nationwide rebellion tha t ' s
shaking the country and causing great distres s
to conservatives and liberals alike .
As a member of the African People' s
Solidarity Committee and the Nationa l
People's Democratic Uhuru Movement work ing actively to stop the U .S . government's war
against the black community, I am writing t o
oppose the position taken in Clayton Ramey' s
article [July PNL/ .
Ramey joins in the anti-black slander tha t
blames the violence of the rebellions on a
"cultural pre-occupation . ..with destruction, "
a lack of "basic educational development an d
cognitive skills" and a lack of "moral guidance" by the black family and church (Quayle' s
"family values"?) .
He laments the lack of influence wielde d
by the predominantly white "non-violent peac e
and justice" movement and warns that if th e
non-violence "movement remains inert, th e
fire next time will consume far more than Lo s
Angeles . "
His views expressed are those of white
liberals who pretend to represent, yet are to tally out of touch with and hostile to, the need s
and aspirations of the colonized African, Na tive American, Puerto Rican and Mexican
people .
Myself a white person speaking to what I
imagine to be the mostly white readership of
the Peace Newsletter, I ask you to consider the
viewpoint and analysis put forward by today' s
black revolutionary movement .
Basis for Philosophical Non violence of Civil Rights Movemen t
According to Omali Yeshitela, Chairman
,of the African People's Socialist Party an d
veteran leader in the Civil Rights and Blac k
Power movements, "The Black Civil Right s
movement was based on non-violence be cause it represented an alliance between th e
liberal sector of th e
black petty bourgeoisie and the liberal sec tor of the white ruling
class . "
The white rulin g
class needed to integrate African workers
into the Northern factories in order to consolidate the U .S . industrial dominance
made possible b y
World War II . So they
financed the movement and they told th e
civil rights leaders jus t
how far to go .
Malcolm X's popular
speech on the "Big 6 "
Join in a commemorative parade to observe the 47th
exposed how the major civil rights organi anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima &
Nagasaki . Gather at the south side of Plymouth Church fro m zations, unde r
Kennedy's orders, dif10 :30-11 :30 am for a downtown Syracuse march . Wea r
fused the 1963 Marc h
white dothing.Organized by Open Hand Theater wit h
on Washington, stop sponsorship from Sane/Freeze, Syr . Peace Council, Non violent Action Collective, Syr . Greens . 425-7257/476-0466 . ping the people from
August 6
D
A
Y
4 Peace Newsletter 8/92
Myth, Magic and Myopi a
to Mr, Jackson's letter ,
g ESPONDING
July PNL, take exception to his stateI
ment "But economics is not just a science of
tested and validated knowledge . . . ." A main
theme of my columns is that economics ha s
never been tested scientifically . Mr . Jackson
describes the beautiful premises upon whic h
neo-classical economics are built . As an art
form they have beauty which could compar e
to paintings by Dali or maybe Picasso in hi s
cubist period . As logical constructs the premises are internally consistent, good utopian
literature comparable to Marx and B .F . Skinner . I also believe in working toward a dream
and I have made major life decisions according to beliefs arising from my dreams, but I do .
not call this science . This confusion between
idealism (art) and reality (science) has lead t o
misuses of economic theories by people wh o
call the theories "fact" and "truth" instead of
"possibility . "
In my next two columns I will discuss tw o
examples of erroneous use of neo-classical
economics . The first from Herman Daly giving a technical analysis of the new age or fuzz y
thinking I wrote about in the May PNL . Then
a review of a newspaper article describing
what appears to be a case of our governmen t
lying to us through the manipulation of statistics and economic theory .
by Will Ravenscrof
t
shutting down the airports and highways a s
the people had intended .
The Black Power Movemen t
When the voting rights act was signed in
1965, both the white ruling class and the black
petty bourgeoisie had achieved their goals .
But the African workers and peasants were
still living in terror and poverty and they began
to speak for themselves and to lead their ow n
movement, demanding Black Power .
They built free health clinics and freedo m
schools, fought for community control of th e
police and housing and, through talk shows ,
newspapers and streetcorner rallies, ideologi cally defeated the myth of American democracy .
Rebellions con't on pg 2 1
~YACUSE PEACE COUN1L PAG E
Citizen's Review Board
The Syracuse Peace Council endorse s
the proposal before the Syracuse Common
Council to establish a Citizen Review Boar d
to oversee the Syracuse Police Departmen t
and investigate complaints . While we as an
organization have, at least in recent years, had
full and responsible cooperation from Cit y
Police when we requested it, we know many
others, of the "wrong" address or background ,
have not fared as well, locally or nationally .
Their anger and denial of dignity must have a
means of formal redress if our shared, thi n
fabric of community is not to be rent.
Ideally, there should be a partnershi p
between those chosen to ensure our safety, th e
police, and all the members of the community .
To function in the fairest way possible, th e
police will need our trust while we will demand their professional conduct . At present,
with no impartial review of police action s
available, both the public and the police offic ers suffer from the burden of suspicions an d
stereotypes which makes the challenging job
of the police even more-difficult and cause s
large segments of their fellow citizens to openl y
distrust and deride them .
We recognize that the police departmen t
is made up of individuals, subject to the sam e
social ills and prejudices as the rest of us, and,
like most institutions, prone to protecting thei r
own in disputes with outsiders . Yet our Con stitution provides all citizens with basic right s
and our governmental representatives with
checks and balances .
We are under no illusions that a more
accountable, interactive police will cure th e
inequities and abuses which plague our soci ety and cause despair to so many . But th e
placing of law enforcement into the light o f
direct community review is a significant step
on the path towards making all of our institu tions, which serve the public, responsible, in a
democratic way, not to themselves or the few ,
but to the very people they serve : the people o f
Syracuse .
SEPTEMBER IS TIME FOR THE SPC GARAGE SALE !
Well, you know we've been talking about it anyway, now we have to get serious .
Please, please, please help us by donating really cool stuff so we can mak e
some money . It has not been a happy financial year for us (I am pouting as I writ e
this) . Anyway, I know they say beggars can't be choosers, but try not to use us a s
merely a place to get rid of bad, old stuff, although some bad, old stuff is really cool .
So call us soon at 472-5478, so we can tell you where to put your things, or if
you feel totally inspired, call to help us out, or even hold a sale at your place of
residence (you don't have to live in Syracuse) and give us the proceeds . It doesn't
have to be your stuff, call, and we'll have people drop their stuff off to you the wee k
of the sales . I know it sounds pretty weird, but it could work .
And if you have any stuff you wanna give away, or if you don't want to hold a
sale, you could always just send us money . . .
seems a little weird . Some parable about foxe s
and hen-houses keeps coming to mind .
And historically, review boards have been
pretty weak without power of subpoena, and i f
they have that power, they become part of th e
enforcement agency itself, and we're back to
the beginning .
You've probably already guessed tha t
I'm about to go into another "If the system i s
the problem, don't make more system "
speeches . Ideally I'd like to see an active ,
informed citizenry empowered to control thei r
own local governments, ending the need fo r
little things like statist governments, militarized police forces, materialized militaries an d
prisons . But until then this review board thing
seems like a pretty good idea.
De-fined the Pop e
I don't have much space but I can't let this
by since Vatican spin-control is working
double-time on double-speak .
It is perfectly offensive that the Pop e
would legitimize Gay and Lesbian discrimination and bashing after labeling Homosexu ality a mental disorder . Of course using his
logic, since it's an illness, all the differentlyabled are going to be in for a rough time of it .
It's good to see organized Christianity living
up to its reputation of oppression and abuse .
War of the Poll s
I truly hope George isn't so desperate fo r
popularity that we go back to Iraq . Of cours e
Clinton already said he'd do the force-thing .
"Where did all the voting go . . ." -In Peace, Bil l
------------------------ -
4$ T4 Sr‘‘
P
eo.0
a
a.44.e
924 Burnet Ave ., Syracuse, NY, 13203 (315)472-5478
0
0
0
0
0
So that was the text of the letter we sent to
the papers in support of the idea of a revie w
board . However, as usual, we SPCers have a
couple of little, itty-bitty concerns barely worth
mentioning .
There is something in the literature abou t
the review board members being chosen by
the Common Council and the Mayor . This
4b
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J
8/92 Peace Newsletter 5
Why We Are Her e
Reflections From the Syracuse Public Safety Building and Its New Priso n
Kathleen Rumpf
citizen review board at the jail . Reports and
In Galations 5 : 13-15 it says "My brothallegations of abuse in the jail are increasing , ers and sisters, remember that you have bee n
excessive bails are now a norm and every called to live in freedom—but not a
day we see numbers of people who ,
freedom that gives free reign to th e
at the taxpayers' expense, are hel d
flesh. Out of love place yourselves
in custody for misdemeanor ofat one another's service . The
fenses
such
as
traffic
infracwhole law has bound its fulfill On Friday, July 3rd, Syracuse activis t
tions, open container violaKathleen Rumpf climbed into a woode n
ment in the one saying : `You
tions, petty larceny, and soprison of her own creation. Kathleen was
shall love your neighbor as your protesting the violence within the local jail a s
liciting . This jail is also bein g
selves .' If you go on biting and
well as the $53 million being spent to build
used to house people from the
g one another to pieces, tak e
our new prison . She remained on 24-hou r
mental health system
care! Y , u will end up in mutual destrucvigil outside the Public Safety Building unti l
they don't know what
tion ." *d that is precisely what is hapSunday, July 12 . What follows is Kathleen's
to do with . All this takes
original statement of intent, and a follow-up
pening our community . It doesn't hav e
article addressing her experiences.
place out of the sight of ` the pubto be this vay . The choice is yours !
licwhichpaysdearlyes- \ pecial, y
in light of the new jail, a jaitnot needed . But ,
most of all, the new jail is a theft off of the
HIS WEEKEND as we celebrate ou r backs of the needy and a, lie that must be
independence, a community of concerne d exposed .
citizens will begin a week-long presenc e
The number of people now 'sin prison
N WEDNESDAY, the sixth day into the
in front of the Public Safety Building to call across the U.S . would comprise the J 1 th larg vigil at the PSB word came down that 6 0
attention to our dependence on a system that est city in the country . The number of people
ates
at the jail were joining me by refusing
brutalizes already-hurting people and self- who are incarcerated in jails a'nd
eave
their
cells and were on a hunger strik e
ishly uses up resources that could provide rea l prisons is greater than the num
r
five
days
to
join their voices with mine tha t
solutions in the form of alternatives, rehabs, berofpeople who live in 13 states,?
indeed
all
was
not
well . Conditions have long
half-way houses, support systems and muc h The United States has the high
•,
.
.
.
.
been
an
issue
at
the
PSB and their voices an d
needed programs for our disadvantaged youth. est imprisonment rate in the
witness from behind the walls strengthene d
The $33 million plus that will be spent o n world . Imprisonment is a ma'",
‘ , any uncertainty I felt about my presence there .
bricks and mortar for the new jail could hav e jor social and moral problem
created anew community where justice serve s while the entire social fabric is disintegrating, The message was heard from within and wa s
all .
schools and hospitals are closing, housing is clearly understood . One inmate wrote, "I'v e
The very nature of a jail is an abuse ; w e increasingly unavailable, and the jails are be definitely got to change my ways, and hopehave built walls to keep the lost and hurting ing used as low income housing . Jobs are fully looking upon acts such as the act yo u
away from citizens with whom we cannot disappearing and the only budget items still displayed right out in front of the jail, it wil l
deal .
being adequately funded are tasks of destruc- remind and assure me that its not a los t
cause . . .the humanity of people just so ofte n
Public and elected officials and the press lion like prisons and war .
throws me off the path
have played off of our
and then I see someone
fears long enough . W e
"Prison is a toxic waste problem .
like you, and my life
must be responsive and
If no attention is paid to industrial toxic waste .. .if no treatmen t seems to take meaning
responsible to the problems in our communialters the dangerous compounds . ..what happens then? Eventuall y again . I sort of wake up
ties. Prisons are violence
it is released from its container to enter the soil, to pollute, to damag e to life a little more as I
age just because yo u
and violence can never
innocent people . Ifs not the fault of the untreated substance but o f hear the stories of
be a solution . Our lack
those that had the power and opportunity to treat it, but did not . people like you but yo u
of concern affects no t
Society introduces dangerous men to the container of prison . No rarely see them, or you
only the inmate populacan rarely "relate" t o
effort is made to change our dangerous behavior, or to neutralize it .
tion but the taxpayers a s
well .
In time, parole releases that behavior into the soil of society and w e the cause they're trying to point out . What
We want to voice
rob, rape and kill . Either "treat us" or live with the untreated conseI'm trying to say i s
our support for a citizen
quences . It is identical stupidities that apply cheap solutions to th e
thank you for the proof !
review board for the poindustrial toxic waste of corporations and the societal toxic waste o f
The proof I sort of
lice but also want to emprisons! "
Curtis Belton, prisone r
needed in my own inphasize the need for a
from The Prison Experienc e
vestigation into hu -
L zing With the Storie s
T
r
6 Peace Newsletter 8/92
Of%
5494 F
~.
A Penalty Of Deat h
A Short Allegory of Social Ill s
Debra Lyn Negus
VIEW A SERIAL KILLER, an America n
soldier, and an individual inflicted wit h
AIDS who knowingly passes this on t o
others as similar . What is the common de nominator here ?
The serial killer says the devil made hi m
do it . The American soldier says the government made him do it . The individual inflicted
with AIDS said anger made him do it .
f
manity, I know now that there really are peopl e
who love one another regardless of anythin g
that might suggest otherwise. It opens up my
eyes and heart a little more every time thi s
"proof" comes to surface, same day I mysel f
might have the courage to "Love everyone a s
I do myself! "
While I sat in the cage so many in th e
community approached he and told me thei r
story of violence by the police or in the PSB .
I sadly realized that the space I occupied
became a place for people who had been
brutalized a rare opportunity to be heard . Tha t
there was no place for them to speak of th e
rage they felt and the importance of that realization convinced me that this communit y
desperately needs a place for the voiceless to
be heard! One young man spoke of the violence done to him and he said, "I wouldn' t
mind taking out a few cops myself ." The
hurting in our communities must be heard an d
cared for . What is done to them beyond our
line of vision gets played back out into ou r
communities . The Citizen Review Board i s
desperately needed to lessen the violence in
the streets . Can't we work together with th e
police? They need us and we need to be
responsive to the problems . . .Rodney King sai d
it, "Can't we get along now, can't we all get
along?" „
Ib
Kathleen is a long-time Syracuse residen t
and activist currently living and working with
Jail Ministry towards a society where prison s
and other regressive institutions are unnecessary .
The serial killer has killed twenty women .
The American soldier has killed two hundre d
men, women and children. The individual
inflicted with AIDS has infected at least thirt y
individuals .
How might one deal with these individu als? If the devil made the serial killer murder ,
should it be up to God to deliver the punishment?
The American soldier, since he killed for
the government, believes that the government should decide hi s
fate, to decide whether
he might live or die .
In regard to the individual infected wit h
AIDS; who is the judge and jury? Are those he
infected responsible for his sentencing, or is i t
up to our "just" judicial system ?
I hear the death penalty might be restore d
in NYS . I really have to stop and wonder ho w
I feel about this .
A serial killer is a possible candidate fo r
this sentence . Talks are under way of his bein g
the first in New York State to die in thi s
manner . But I thought the devil made him d o
it . Is he fully responsible for his actions, o r
could it somehow be, that somehow throughout the ages, someone has somehow conditioned this individual's mind, so that in realit y
he actually believes he kills for the devil ?
You hear it every day . The devil made me
do it, ha ha . You can view this basically 2 4
hours a day on television, cable permitting .
The newspapers are filled to capacity with
violence, murder, rape and destruction .
What would the mind frame of an individual be, if he were to sit in one room viewin g
murder, violence, satanic crimes, and crime s
of the heart for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ,
52 weeks a year? Occasionally he might pic k
up a newspaper to read the headlines . More
crime, violence, arson, and murder . Would he
believe this to be reality? This is his reality ,
thanks to cable television, and the local news papers . Who's to say the devil didn't mak e
him do it? After all, we can't blame the television stations, and the newspapers ; they're jus t
doing their job, informing the public of what
they want to hear .
Now we come to the American soldier . I n
the name of justice, it's o .k . to kill . It doesn' t
matter if they are children, old, young, men,
women, white or black . Believe that all are the
enemy . In the name of justice, kill . We wil l
train you and supply you with all of the weapons you will need . Remember, it is freedom
you are fighting for .
The soldier, returning to the U.S . of A . ,
finds himself unemployed . He dreams of
screaming children, women, and men . He
dreams of bloody trenches, and children who
die with their mothers . These children
were such a threat .
Why doesn't the
government realize
i,
how fortunate the y
are to have soldiers such as this in their control .
A story appears, a war tribunal is i n
session . Charges are brought against this soldier . Who does he answer to? Why, ultimately, the government . Behind closed doors,
a verdict is heard .
"He was only following orders ." Who
then is responsible? If the soldier is followin g
the government's orders, should the soldier b e
responsible, or should the government be re sponsible? Only the soldier knows ; for now,
not only is his mind programmed, but hi s
dreams are programmed as well .
And last, but not least, we come to th e
individual infected with AIDS . His reply, is
that if he is going to die, everyone will die wit h
him . If the government had done more t o
educate him, he believes he would be AID S
free . He also believes the government is responsible for creating the AIDS virus . Al though he is angry with the government, h e
has no way to channel this anger towards the
government . Instead he decides to use man y
as pawns, since he feels he is merely a paw n
for the government . So, who is at fault in this
scenario ?
The irony of this situation is that this
individual is clean . His testing proved to be a
false positive . His symptoms were symptoms
of the mind. Yet now his reputation is 4estroyed, his beliefs are destroyed, and his life
is destroyed. Where do we go from here ?
The moral of the story ; I guess it al l
depends on the pawn, the king, and the board.
0
Debra is a member of the PNL committee .
She also writes for England's Peace an d
Freedom .
8/92 Peace Newsletter 7
Intellectual Property Rights And Wrong s
How the U.S. Exports Poverty In Trad e
Mia Taylor Valdes
N COSTA RICA, a Polo dress shirt sell s
for $25, compared with $60 or more in th e
U .S .A . stylish Benetton knit top that sell s
for $40 at a U .S . mall can be had for a mer e
$12 . On close inspection, however, the discerning consumer might notice that Ralp h
Lauren's upscale emblem looks more like a
camel than an elegant polo player . And the
Benetton shirt feels like—horror!—syntheti c
fabric .
Neither Mr . Lauren nor Benetton Inc .
receives a penny from the sale of the shirts because they aren't theirs . They are part of a
wide range of articles and services, from run ning shoes to computer software to cable TV ,
that are copied and sold daily in Costa Ric a
and much of the Third World .
Costa Ricans who buy and sell counterfeit goods may not even know they are break ing the law because the country's copyrigh t
and patent laws, while fairly comprehensiv e
on paper, are seldom enforced .
In1990, a large U .S . food company trie d
to market its products here, only to discover
that its brand name was already well known ,
having been appropriated by a local firm 1 5
years before . The case is still winding its wa y
through the courts with no end in sight . The
distributors of Mongol pencils, while als o
mired in the legal process, opted for swifter
justice by denouncing the fake Mongol merchants in full-page newspaper ads .
I
A U .S . Intellectual Property Cod e
for Al l
Cases such as these have led multinational corporations to clamor for stronger intellectual property rights worldwide . The y
claim that Third World "pirates" deprive the m
of billions of dollars a year by violating their
patents and copyrights .
The U .S . government, ever the champion
of big business, has taken on the global battl e
for stronger and uniform intellectual propert y
laws . The U .S . Trade Representative (USTR) ,
in cooperation with the Intellectual Propert y
Committee (composed of 13 corporate giant s
such as General Motors, IBM, Merck and
8 Peace Newsletter 8/92
Dupont) has come up with new standards for article"—rather than the cheap locally-mad e
the rest of the world .
facsimile . Royalties from licensing agreement s
These standards include : lengthening th e could add billions to corporate coffers . Bu t
lifespan of patents, ensuring that countrie s what's in it for the developing world ?
prohibit copies of trademarks, and removin g
Advocates of strong intellectual propert y
restrictions on the manufacture of patented regulations claim that the protection provide d
goods (some gov by these laws wil l
ernments require
mean more foreign
"We are now entering an age i n
that a product sol d
investment, leadin their countr y
which genetic wealth, especiall y ing to increased in also be produce d
novation and techin tropical areas such a s
there) . The pronology transfer to
rainforests . ..is becoming a
posal would als o
the Third World .
currency with high immediat e
extend patents t o
Not so, say crit" all products an d
ics, who claim th e
value."
processes whic h
stronger laws wil l
are new, usefu l
lead instead to a
and not obvious," including genetic material . monopoly of technology by those who alread y
The U .S . is working on several fronts to have it . Innovative results from loose patent
promote its intellectual property code . Th e laws, they claim, allow a developing countr y
proposals are a central part of the curren t to copy technology, leap frogging over many
round of the General Agreement on Tariff s steps in the industrialization process .
and Trade (GATT), a treaty regulating 80% of
Proponents of loose laws point to the U .S .
world trade for 108 countries . They are also a itself and Asia where industrialization too k
precondition for Latin American governments place in a climate of lax intellectual propert y
seeking to renegotiate their bilateral debt with laws . Japan is the supreme example of a tech the U .S .
nology copycat . After World War II it began
Strict intellectual property laws are als o duplicating Western products and undersellrequired for nations wishing to participate i n ing the originals . As the technology was mas Bush's Initiative for the Americas, a plan tered and disseminated, local brands becam e
promising free access to U .S . markets and competitive . In one generation Japan wen t
generous debt forgiveness in exchange fo r from master counterfeiter to the world's high economic restructuring in the neo-liberal mode . tech leader .
If the "carrot" of trade benefits does no t
In the '60s Hong Kong took the same path
entice countries to tighten their laws, then th e to rapid development, followed by Taiwan
U .S . is prepared to brandish the "stick" o f and Korea in the '70s, and Thailand in the
trade sanctions . In '88 the USTR-impose d '80s, all copying Western and, later, Japanes e
sanctions on Brazil for not protecting the pat - products . Modernizing was sped up by copy ents of U .S . pharmaceutical companies ; the ing . Now, the process is decried as "piracy . "
sanctions were removed only when Brazi l
"This is a historic problem between th e
promised to enact stricter laws .
developed countries that try to maintain con Currently, Guatemala and El Salvador trol over technology and the poor countrie s
are scrambling to regulate the dissemination that try to appropriate it," says Roberto Rojas ,
of cable TV and records and tapes . Their loos e Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister .
.
laws have landed them on the USTR's annual
list of countries with barriers to U .S . exports , Law Puts Wealth Before Healt h
the final warning before sanctions are applied .
Even developing countries that support
stricter intellectual property rights question
Copycat Industrializatio n
some aspects of the U .S . proposal—espeThere are clear benefits to the industrial - cially the patent coverage of medicine, whic h
ized world if developing countries adopt US - the U .S . wants countries to observe for 1 7
style patent laws . There will be ahuge transfer years .
of resources to the North . Third World conCosta Rica, like most small, developin g
sumers will have to buy the imported "genuine countries, has few resources to devote to re -
search and development . But in Costa Ric a
drug patents last for only one year . After that ,
medicines can be reproduced by private firm s
in the labs of the socialized medicine program .
Prices of locally-made drugs tend to be muc h
cheaper than the originals . It's one of the
reasons Costa Rica has one of the healthiest
populations in the developing world .
A law that would require importing ex pensive brand-name drugs would cause severe public health consequences . It would
also cripple the local pharmaceutical industry ,
while securing a monopoly for multinationa l
pharmaceutical companies .
Other developing countries, such as India, observe patents of manufacturing processes but not products . Under such a syste m
a domestic drug firm can duplicate a paten t
medicine if it develops a new technique for
doing so . Under Indian law, the governmen t
may require patent holders to manufacture
their product under license in India if they ar e
not providing enough of a certain medicine at
a reasonable price . These innovative laws,
which benefit Third World consumers and
their fledgling pharmaceutical industries ,
would be prohibited under a US-designe d
intellectual property codes .
Patenting The Rainfores t
The most ominous feature of the ne w
intellectual property regulations is a proposal
to allow patenting of life forms, a practic e
already in effect in the U.S . This would permit
companies to collect genetic material to b e
later transformed through biotechnologica l
wizardry into new patentable products .
The recent cracking of the gene, as revo lutionary as the splitting of the atom, ha s
spawned a rapidly evolving form of industria l
engineering using genetic information as it s
raw material .
Controversy stems from the fact that the
technology-rich North is also gene-poor . The
Third World, however, while lacking in technological expertise, is a genetic treasure trov e
possessing 80% of the planet's species an d
almost all its unexplored life forms .
"We are now entering an age in which
genetic wealth, especially in tropical area s
such as rainforests . . .is becoming a currenc y
with high immediate value," says biotechnology company executive Winston Brill .
The tropical countries, however, canno t
demand compensation for the exploration an d
exploitation of their genetic resources becaus e
their "naturally occurring organisms" have
already been classified "universal commo n with their last chance out of perpetual poverty .
heritage ." Unlike minerals, species cannot be And the poor countries of the South need tim e
considered assets of the country in which the y to develop their own technologies in order t o
are found .
break out of their traditional role as suppliers
Many fear the race is on to control the of cheap raw materials .
world's genetic wealth . Multinational pharmaceutical, food, pesticide and chemical com All This Work for Nothing ?
panies have thei r
In exchange for restructureyes on countrie s
ing their economies and adoptin g
such as tiny Cost a
strict patent laws—measures that
Rica—a mere 0 .1 %
are short-term losers for poor coun of the world's land
tries—the industrialized worl d
mass that is home to
promises to provide long-term
5% of the planet' s
gains by dropping its trade barriers
biodiversity .
to agricultural and textile products
A recent con from the South.
tract between Costa
But while the developing
Rica and the drug gi world is carrying out its end of the
ant Merck & Combargain and eliminating trade barpany has divided enriers, wealthy nations hold fast t o
vironmentalists .
protectionist tariffs and quotas .
Some feel it is a
Bush's vaunted Initiative for th e
novel and mutuall y
Americas has yielded precious fe w
beneficial arrangerewards for structural adjustment
ment to inventor y
sacrifices . Minister Rojas comlife forms and spli t
plained recently that the "reality o f
the profits from an y
the Initiative" is quite differen t
useful products defrom the promises of Bush's speech
rived from them ; othtwo years ago, and fears a lack of
ers accuse Cost a
"political will" to implement the
Rica of selling it s
project .
"patrimony" for a
After complying with U .S .
pittance . Suspicion
demands to liberalize its econom y
abounds because the
and receiving little in return, Cost a
technology is so ne w
Rica now faces the reform of it s
and the monetar y
intellectual property laws . The U.S .
value of the raw maAmbassador to Costa Rica recently
terials and the en d
said, "Heading the list for any posproducts is unsible negotiations (of free-trade
known .
pacts) would be countries whose
For its part, the
legal systems give protection to
U .S . government i s
Jessica Leiter '92 copyrights and accept international
putting enormou s
standards . "
pressure on countries to adopt U .S .-style paten t
Whether in regional trade talks, debt refl laws that will give legal backing to the multi- nancing or international agreements, intellec national covetousness of the tropics' trea- tual property rights is an issue that won't g o
sures. Critics fear some countries, in thei r away . Costa Rica and other Third World coun eagerness to renegotiate their debt or get more tries should consider carefully who will profi t
favorable trade deals, will adopt new patent and who will lose in adopting US-style laws .
laws without realizing the ramifications .
Before signing on the dotted line they woul d
Critics of the new laws urge a wait-and- be wise to examine carefully what lurks besee approach .
tween the lines . 0%
Ib
It is too soon to tell whether the Third
World's biodiversity will be a marketable This article reprinted with permission from
resource like oil that could sustain long-ter m Mesoamerica, the newsletter of news an d
on Central America published by
development . Genetic abundance may be th e analysis
the Institute for Central American Studies,
asset that will provide some tropical countries San Jose', Costa Rica .
8/92 Peace Newsletter 9
What Is a Worker Cooperative ?
Howie Hawkins
ORKER COOPERATIVES are enterprises owned and controlled b y
the people who work at them on the
basis of one member, one vote . A capitalis t
enterprise is owned on the basis of one shar e
of stock, one vote .
In a worker cooperative, the surplu s
(profit) created by the workers is theirs to
dispose of as they wish . In a capitalist enter prise, the owners—most often non-workin g
absentee owners—take the surplus that th e
workers' labor creates .
This feature of capitalism where on e
class—the owners—takes what anothe r
class—the workers—creates is called exploi tation . It is why capitalism is sometimes calle d
a system of legalized organized crime . Or as
Malcolm X once put it, "Show me a capitalist ,
and I'll show you a bloodsucker . "
Worker cooperatives are a
non-exploitative form of economi c
enterprise where workers receiv e
the "full fruit of their labor ." Under capitalism, capital exploit s
workers to expand the value of
capital . In a worker cooperative ,
workers use capital to provide
things of value for themselves, their
families, their community . In a
cooperative system, capital i s
purely instrumental, not a mystified force that seems to have its
own self-aggrandizing will as un der capitalism .
W
The Mondragon Cooperative Networ k
The most successful worker s
co-ops in the world are in th e
Basque region of Spain around th e
city of Mondragon . The network
of co-ops built up in the Mondrago n
region since 1956 now embrac e
more than 150 cooperatives, including :
• 85 industrial worker co-ops
(froth robots, machine-tools, and
computer components to refrigerators and food products) ,
• 6 agricultural co-ops,
10 Peace Newsletter 8/92
• 43 cooperative schools using the Basque
language,
• 14 housing co-ops ,
• a consumer co-op with more tha n
300,000 members and a supermarket in ever y
community,
• a technological research institute an d
school ,
• a management and research school, an d
• Caja Laboral Popular (House of People' s
Labor), the cooperative bank with more than
100 local branches covering every neighbor hood .
The worker co-ops employ more tha n
25,000 people . When the economy is in reces sion, the Mondragon co-ops reduce working
hours in order to keep everyone working .
When one co-op has excess labor, workers
can move easily to another co-op with a labo r
shortage . The wages and benefits are good by
European standards .
The Mondragon co-ops made an innovation in the organization of worker co-ops which
solved a problem which had plagued them
throughout the industrial era .
Worker cooperatives have been around
in various small-scale forms since the guild s
of the Middle Ages. But when workers tried to
respond to the rise of industrial capitalism b y
organizing industrial worker cooperatives, the y
had great difficulties . The capitalist bank s
would not extend them credit. If they surmounted this obstacle through cooperative
credit unions, big business cartels would try t o
deny them access to markets . Often the state—
at the bidding of big capitalist businesses —
often discriminated against them in terms o f
permits, licenses, and spurious but timercon suming and debilitating legal harassment. The
populist movement in the late 19th century in
the U .S . is a case study of these obstacles . The
populists ran into all of them . Sharecroppers
white and black together for the first time in
the South, tried to use cooperatives to get ou t
from under "The Man" locally to whom they
were perpetually indebted for seed, supplies ,
and land rent and the banks and
railroad companies nationall y
upon whom their cooperative s
relied for credit and transport of
farm products to market .
After overcoming the local credit and legal obstacles onl y
to find the government sidin g
with the monopolistic practice s
of the banking, rail, and farm
supply trusts, the populist move ment formed their own political
party, the People's Party . But the
government refused to seat man y
of their duly elected candidates
and sided with the alliance of
southern landowners and north ern industrialists in imposing Jim
Crow in the post-reconstruction
era, dividing black and whit e
sharecroppers, and fomenting th e
fool's populism of white supremacy among poor whites.
Despite the kind obstacles
faced by the populist movement ,
many worker co-ops succeede d
in the Midwest and Northwest
U .S . as well as in Europe . Now a
new problem arose--in a way ,
they were too successful !
As the worker co-ops grew ,
the value of the co-op worker-members' share
in the co-op also grew . When the first genera tion of co-operators got ready to cash in thei r
shares at retirement age, a new younger generation of workers could not afford to buy thei r
shares . The co-ops had to sell out to capitalis t
enterprises in order to recover the surplus
labor their workers had accumulated over th e
years for retirement .
This obstacle was not overcome until th e
1950s when the Mondragon cooperators mad e
an innovation in worker cooperatives . Instead
of crediting all of the surplus to the members '
shareholdings in the co-op, the Mondrago n
worker co-ops set up internal capital accounts
to which they credit only 50% of the surplus .
Workers can withdraw money from the inter nal capital accounts upon leaving the co-o p
over a specified period of time like 5 years .
40% of the surplus is reinvested in the co-op a s
retained earnings which belong to the co-op ,
but which no individual member has a clai m
on . The other 10% is spent on cooperativ e
education . This way, the worker co-op doe s
not get stuck with a shortage of capital when
a group of workers need to leave or retire .
Mondragon Cooperative Principle s
In the course of developing th e
Mondragon cooperative network, th e
Moudragon cooperators have developed a se t
of principles for worker cooperatives whic h
expand upon the principles for consumer cooperatives of the International Cooperativ e
Alliance which I presented in the July Peace
Newsletter. These 10 principles are :
1. Freedom To Joi n
The cooperative experience is open t o
men and women who accept the basic principles and possess the professional qualifications required for jobs .
2. Democratic Organization
All worker-members have an equal righ t
to be, to own, and to know . The members ar e
required to participate by voting in the annua l
general assembly and in the election of the
board of directors . Members also take part i n
discussion with board members during th e
rest of the year .
3. The Significance of Wor k
Work is the essential factor in the trans formation of nature, society, and, indeed, hu man beings . Therefore, Mondragon :
a) renounces the "employment" of non members;
b) considers work as the basis for the
distribution of surplus ;
c) widens the professional options of al l
worker-members .
4. The Instrumental Character of Capita l
Mondragon considers capital as accumulated work . Consequently, each member' s
right to remuneration and to be part of the
cooperative is subordinate only to th e
cooperative's continuity .
5. Participation in Managemen t
Democratic principles are involved no t
only in the election of officers, but also i n
member participation in management of co operatives . This requires that members be
kept informed about management's policie s
and activities .
6. Solidarity in Remuneratio n
This principle is enacted through a scal e
of payments which is less extreme than i n
other types of business organization .
7. Inter-Cooperatio n
As a requisite of efficiency and as a
concrete practice of solidarity, the process o f
inter-cooperation must be manifest among the
cooperatives (by regions and by sectors o f
production) through the creation of super structural entities (such as schools and credi t
unions) . By working for the benefit of all th e
cooperatives in the movement, these super structural entities endeavor to improve th e
movement in general .
8. Social Transformation
The Mondragon cooperatives endeavo r
to expand their influence in the Basque coun try in order to facilitate the construction of a
Basque society with more freedom, solidarity ,
and justice .
9. Universal Character
Mondragon proclaims with all the peopl e
who work for economic democracy within th e
framework of a social economy . It subscribes
to the principles of peace, justice, and development, which are characteristic of international cooperativism. It maintains solidarity
with European and international movements
to improve social justice throughout the world ,
and especially among Third World countries .
10. Educatio n
None of the above mentioned principle s
is feasible without the allocation of sufficien t
economic and human resources to education
in its diverse domains : cooperative, professional, and general .
Full Cooperatives : Reunitin g
Production and Consumptio n
Consumer cooperatives organ zepurchasing power so that middleman and retail profit s
stay with the consumers instead of drain out of
the community . Worker cooperatives end th e
exploitation of labor by capital so that surpluses stay with the workers in the community
instead of drain out of the community to absentee owners .
But market relations between firms, eve n
if they are cooperatives, does not end the
inevitable antagonism and incentive to tak e
advantage of others that comes when every one wants to buy cheap and sell dear .
Worker and consumer cooperatives wer e
a response to the breakdown of the direct link s
between production and consumption that were
produced by the progressive expansion of
market relations during the Middle Ages . T o
end the antagonism that a market econom y
inevitably produces, workers and conswner s
need to be reunited at the community level .
In cooperative communities, production
would be for use by the community, not for a
profit realized in the anonymous market . The
limits of worker and consumer cooperative s
and the ideal of cooperative communities has
been explored by Martin Buber in his Paths i n
Utopia . Buber called these "full cooperatives "
and they are what I want to discuss next time .
Howard is the director of Commonworks, a
federation of local cooperatives, & th e
Economic Alternatives Project of Upper NYS
American Friends Service Committee .
SYRACUSE
Real Food Cooperative
Many organically grown an d
produced foods:
•
•
•
•
Nuts, Grains, Seeds • Whole Clain Baked Good s
Produce
• Free Range Eggs
Cheeses • Chemical-Free Mea t
Herbs & Spices
• Fresh Fish Delivered Thursdays
And Much More
618 Kensington Road
(off Westcott) 472-138 5
on - Fri 10 - 8, Sat 8 - 8
8/92 Peace Newsletter 11
Community Updat e
EcoVillage
EcoVillage Land Purchased
EcoVillage at Ithaca, a proposed commu nity based on ecological and socially sustain able principles, has reached an important milestone in the process of translating its visio n
into reality . The EcoVillage Board of Direc tors announced that it has completed the pur chase of 165 acres of land on West Hill within
the Town of Ithaca, which will be the site o f
the community . EcoVillage at Ithaca has raise d
$400,000 through a number of loans and donations to cover the cost of the land purchase .
"To have raised this amount of money in les s
than a year is a significant achievement," say s
Joan Bokaer, the founder of the EcoVillag e
project. "This indicates that there is a great
deal of interest in communities which offer a
simpler, more affordable lifestyle . "
EcoVillage at Ithaca offers a new an d
creative approach,to building design and th e
use of space, including the preservation o f
80% of the land for natural areas, permaculture,
organic farming, and recreation . On the remaining 20% of the land, homes will be buil t
in high-density clusters anti divided into neigh borhoods of about 25 households . Says Bokaer,
"EcoVillage model is an alternative to willy nilly development of land, which divides space
into uniform blocks . The goal of EcoVillage at
Ithaca is to use space wisely and maintain a
sensitivity to the land in all of its variations . "
Based on the Danish cohousing model ,
the EcoVillage at Ithaca neighborhoods wil l
be designed to balance personal needs for
autonomy and provide a "common house" or
community building . This will include optional community dining and child care an d
other shared facilities . Central to the cluster
housing model adopted by EcoVillage at Ithaca
is a concern to address key psychologica l
needs and social issues such as isolation, the
fear of crime, safety, emotional stress, time
pressure and the lack of day care . Community
living also has other benefits which include a
healthier life style, group support, and share d
responsibilities .
The intention of the EcoVillage at Ithaca
community is to create a simpler, more afford able lifestyle which makes fewer demand s
upon the existing infrastructure and natura l
environment . All buildings will be very energy efficient and will use superinsulation an d
passive solar technologies that are economi cal and environmentally sound . Community
gardens will grow an array of nutritious organic food . Insofar as many of the basic neces sities of life will be available within the com munity, people will be less dependent upo n
the automobile as a primary mode of transpor tation . The village itself will be pedestrian
based .
EcoVillage at Ithaca is emerging as a
model of how an ecological and socially sus tainable community can function in this region . For this reason it has evoked the interes t
of architects, landscape developers, desig n
engineers, permaculturists, and others who
see in this project basic principles that wil l
guide future development .
Contact : Charles DeMotte-Grow (607)
844-9586 .
FREE BROCHURE : "Where to fin d
local, fresh, organically-grown
vegetables, fruits, herbs, honey ,
eggs, meat" in Central NY . Avail able at Syracuse Peace Council ,
or send SASE to Natural Organi c
Farmers' Association) PO Box 21 ,
South Butler, NY 13154-0021 .
VOLUNTEERS Needed to work in th e
Front Room Bookstore . Cal], 472 5478 to find out more .
PLOWSHARES CRAFTSFAIR Applica tions for our 1992 show on December 12 and 13 have been mailed . I f
you are a craftsperson and woul d
like to apply for the show pleas e
call SPC at 472-5478 for a n
application .
Unclassifieds are free but a
small donation is appreciated .
Please send your submission t o
PNL Unclassifieds, 924 Burne t
Ave, Syracuse, NY 13203 or cal l
315-472-5478 .
12 Peace Newsletter 8/92
WILL TYPE term papers or anythin g
else . $2 per page . Please cal l
Susan Ashley at 446-2429 betwee n
8am and 6pm .
Community Update
Witness
For
Peace
Women's Delegation To Nicaragu a
Companeras ,
Witness for Peace is organizing as National Women's Delegation to Nicaragua from
November 20 to December 4, 1992 . The delegation leaders are presently taking applica tions . Since the war, women have been a
leading force in development programs and
local reconstruction . Last January, a confer ence entitled "Unity In Diversity" brought
800 women in Nicaragua together to discus s
issues including sexuality, economy, violence ,
the environment and participation in mass
organizations .
The U .S . delegation will visit communi ties in Managua and the countryside, meetin g
with women who have led their sisters in
struggles for peace, social and economi c
change . The delegation intends to bring together a diverse group of women to travel and
learn together, and from each other . One of th e
goals is to lay groundwork for national and
international networks of women that wil l
continue to assist in social and economi c
change long after the delegation has returned .
Proposed sites to visit include among
others : health (state and private) care units ,
programs working on domestic violence is sues, technical training schools, daycare cen ters, unemployed women, developmen t
projects, and women's local organizations .
The estimated cost of the trip is $1,200 U S
plus airfare to the training site in Ft . Lauder dale . Participants are encouraged to engage i n
local fund-raising efforts and some assistanc e
is available to low-income applicants . If you
are interested you should apply—someho w
the money will work out . For an application
and fund-raising advice write or call :
Witness for Peace - Women's Delegatio n
2201 P St ., NW Room 109
Washington, DC 2003 7
202/797-116 0
Applications are being accepted immediately !
Lynne Woehrl e
Syracus e
Community Updat e
Syracus e
ons. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was
an organizer and program developer for the
San Juan Capistrano Indian Council in south ern California and the Native American Indian Center in Great Falls, Montana, where h e
Unity Green Party Candidates Star t
also taught Native American Studies at th e
Ballot Petition Drive
College of Great Falls .
The Unity Green Party program ems
From July 16 until August 27, member
and supporters of the Unity Green Party of phasizes :
• immediate military spending cuts of at
New York will be collecting signatures to pu t
least
50% coupled to a peace conversion pro their candidates on the November election
gram
oriented toward sustainable developballot .
ment
and
a domestic Marshall Plan to rebuild
It will take 15,000 valid signatures state our
cities
;
wide, including at least 100 in half of Ne w
• progressive tax reform and the expanYork's congressional districts to put Ro n
sion
of
social programs, including a free pubr
Daniels and Asiba Tupahache on the ballot fo
President and Vice-President respectively . lic health system, quality jobs for all who wan t
State Assembly and State Senate candidate s them, affordable housing for all, and quality
will need 1,500 and 3,000 respectively . Double multicultural education free through univerthese numbers is what is really needed to sity level at public institutions;
• a shut down of nuclear power plants an d
withstand legal challenges, which the Unit y
phasing
out fossil fuels as the efficient use o f
Greens expect from the Democrats and th e
renewable
energy is phased in through a de New Alliance Party (NAP) .
Daniels, the former Executive Director of centralized public power system ;
• a ban on burning solid waste coupled to
the National Rainbow Coalition, has been
expanded
waste reduction, reuse, and recyactive in black independent politics for mor e
cling
programs
;
than two decades, serving as president of the
•
respect
for
the sovereignty and treat y
National Black Political Assembly (1974 rights
of
Native
Americans,
including stop1980) and co-chair of the National Black Inde ping
New
York
State
efforts
to tax Indian
pendent Political Party (1980-1985) .
Tupahache is a Matinecoc Indian activis t businesses on the reservations ;
• economic democracy through worke r
from Great Neck, New York . She is publisher
and
consumer
co-ops, democratic public enof The Spirit of January Monthly, which deal s
terprises,
and
participatory
economic planwith issues confronting oppressed people .
ning
;
an
d
Other Unity Green candidates includ e
• grassroots democracy through neighMary France, an African American activist fo r
borhood
town meetings with the power to giv e
state assembly from Queens; Mark Dunlea ,
binding
instructions and recall their city ,
director of the Hunger Action Network, fo r
county,
state,
and national representatives;
;
Maria
Teres
a
state assembly from Albany
Canosa and James Bouldin for the reappor- municipal home rule on taxation ; initiative
tioned county legislature in Albany County ; referenda; public campaign financing ; and
and Tom Sullivan for state senate from th e fair ballot access .
The potential appeal of this program is
48th district seat now held by Nancy Lorrain e
indicated
by a recent phone-in poll conducted
Hoffman, a Democrat .
by
a
black-radio
station in New York City ,
Sullivan is a Mohawk Indian who is preswhere
Daniels
was
interviewed several time s
ently coordinator of the Native American Cul in
June
and
July
on
black radio stations . Betural Awareness Program and a part-time instructor at the Syracuse University School of tween Bush, Clinton, NAP's Fulani, and
n
Social Work where he teaches a course en - Daniels, 65% chose Daniels in the phone-o
poll
.
titled "The Contemporary Native American
But in order to have a platform to articuIndian Experience." In the early 1970s ,
late
the
program during the fall election camSullivan organized cultural awareness pro paign,
Unity
Green Party candidates need to
grams for urban Indian youth on Syracuse' s
get
those
ballot
petitions signed . To help, cal l
near west side and mediated and coordinated
a similar program in conjunction with th e Walt Dixie, 425-8933 ; Aspen Olmsted, 4251743, or come by the Unity Green's storefront
Chiefs and Clan Mothers of the Six Nation s
at
1200 South Ave .
Iroquois Confederacy in New York State pris -
Green s
Vegetarian Fast-Food
On May 30th, rallies were held nation wide in an effort to convince 11 of the majo r
fast-food restaurants to add vegetarian entree s
to their menus . The rallies were attended b y
individuals participating in the Vegetarian
Express Fast-Food Campaign . The campaign
is designed to inform restaurants of the grow ing demand for low-fat, meat-free, fish-fre e
and dairy-free menu items .
According to a June 1991 Gallup survey
commissioned by the National Restauran t
Association, 20% of the respondents said the y
prefer to eat in a restaurant that offers meat less items . The reasons give by those who sai d
they would seek out a restaurant that offere d
vegetarian fare were "health reasons " (88%) ,
"taste preference"(86%), and "ethical reasons "
(39%) .
Vegetarian dining is becoming more
popular and countless restaurants are no w
offering meat-less items . Burger King is testing a variety of veggie burgers and, in Grea t
Britain, soy-based burgers account for abou t
6% of their sales . Arby's is trying out a vegetable pita pocket . Garcia's Mexican Restaurants have several vegetarian items on thei r
menu and veggie fajitas are extremely popular .
Health-minded employees working fo r
Apple Computer Company, Nike and many
other companies have meat-less options to
choose from in their workplace cafeterias .
Cornell University's dining halls serve vegetarian meals . The Gardenburger, a meat-free
"burger," is being supplied to Harvard
University's dining halls, Jackson Hole sk i
resorts in Wyoming, the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D .C., and several air lines .
Vegetarians and health-conscious people
hungering for more than just a tossed salad
need to make their wishes known when the y
eat out . Information about the benefits of being a vegetarian and about the Vegetarian
Express Fast-Food Campaign can be obtained
by contacting People for Animal Rights, P .O .
Box 5, Syracuse, N .Y . 13205 .
Community Update
8/92 Peace Newsletter 13
On Solidarit y
Impressions of African People's Solidarity Da y
Bill Mazza
HERE IS A LEVEL of safety awarde d
those on the left . By applying self-stick
labels of "progressive" or "radical," w e
feel beyond reproach of mainstream society .
Therefore it can only be healthy when any
aspect of our political nature is successfull y
challenged .
On the weekend of July 11th and 12th, the
African People's Solidarity Committe e
(APSC) sponsored a program in Philadelphia
to celebrate Africa and African people in thi s
country and in the world . The APSC is an
organization of white people working under
the leadership of the African Peoples Socialis t
Party (APSP) and the movement for Black
Power . APSC organizes in the white community to "build political and financial support
for the Black Power Movement in solidarity
with the demand for Black reparations . "
I was initially attracted by the impressiv e
list of participants in the event as well as a
desire to better understand the experience s
and -insights of our oppressed brothers an d
sisters . The program consisted of a series o f
speakers, musicians, singers and dancers from
around the world . It included representative s
of APSP, APSC, MOVE, and the People' s
Democratic Uhuru Movement ; as well as John
Dacajewiah Hill, a Mohawk activist and coordinator for the League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations of the Western Hemisphere, and
Mohammed Latif, an Iraqi activist living i n
this country .
The majority of the speeches by the organizers addressed both the question of reparations to the African communities and the stop ping of what they view as the counter-insurgency war currently waged by the U .S. government against African people in this country . This counter-insurgency takes the form of
the willful arrests and murders of, and slandering against, the members and leaders of the
Black Power Movement . It also includes the
explosion of drugs within the African community, adding to the oppressive social and living
conditions which are "allowed" the poor in
this capitalist society .
While I found it possible to debate th e
finer points of some of the economic and
14 Peace Newsletter 8/92
social criticisms being offered, I don't se e work hard enough . Chairman Omali continhow anyone in the white community ca n ues :
argue that unspeakable atrocities have been ,
A parasite requires a host for its parasitism . Once you get a tape worm inside yo u
and continue to be, carried out in ou r
ft . . .doesn't getup in the morning and go t o
government's hypocritical quest for "democwork. Its on permanent welfare. You have
racy ."
to get a job to feed it. You can't pray the
It must be cosmic fate that what is bein g
parasite out of you . You can't educate the
celebrated as the quincentennial also happen s
tape worm out of you--especially if the
to fall on an election year in this country . The
schools you go to are tape worm schools !
more the media carries on, the more glaring i t
Education is one key to control . The polibecomes that the only consistency shown by cies of reeducation by our government ar
e
our ancestors and our present government ,
well documented, whether we are addressing
within and without our borders, is the willing- the forced schooling of Indigenous children
,
ness to go to any length to establish the "supeforced Christianity of the Indigenous and en riority" of western imperialism in the world .
slaved populations, or the subsequent denia l
"A world where," in the words of Omal i
of equality of education which continues in
Yeshitela, keynote speaker, Chairman of the our urban and native schools today .
African People's Socialist Party, and founde r
But in this culture the crime is 'often
of the Burning Spear newspaper, "a handful o f
attributed to the victim, because the victim i s
people, who do not know the meaning of without voice
. So it is with the crime of povlabor, own everything we need to survive, an d erty
. For example, study after study shows that
the real producers own nothing but misery ."
the majority of drug crimes are committed b y
This is not a question of egos and lazimiddle class whites, yet our media images ar e
ness, but a question of perspective . One perfilled with African faces filling police cars .
spective attempting to convey the voices of
The APSC goes on to argue that the
the untold millions who were torn from thei r
increase in the
homes and forced
amount of drug s
to work for Euroentering th e
peans, and then
Black and Latino
Americans, with communities is
out pay—an d
part of the polic y
most often
of death and terworked to death .
ror aimed at
This is slathose communivery and genoties . Althoug h
cide, and white
this declaration
America is its liv may get our coning legacy . We
spiracy theorists
are living off th e
all in a tizzy, the
direct inheritance
issue warrant s
of the death and
consideration .
slavery of the InChairman Omal i
Uhuru House - Philadelphia' s
digenous and Afcites, "The U .S .
Black Power Organizing Cente r
rican peoples .
goveLnmen t
This parasitism
would have us
even became accepted history when finall y believe that a 17 year-old black teenager wit
h
retold to us by a whi te historian named Howar d
a chemistry set in his basement develope d
Zinn in 1980. None of this should be news .
crack out of cocaine, set up a billion dolla r
U .S. mis-education tells us that it is th e
shipping industry with connections in ports al l
responsibility of poor individuals to work hard over the world, became incredibly wealth y
enough to achieve the benefits of the sys- and moved to the projects
."
tem—a system of hypocrisy teaching tha t
The APSP links the development of th e
anyone can be a successful capitalist if they Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and th
e
war in Vietnam to a sudden flow of heroin
within the Black community (a DEA forme d
with the help of agents involved in the murde r
of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton), followed by the sudden switch to cocaine as th e
American-drug-of-choice when our government swung its own attentions to Sout h
America.
With the facts concerning the invasion o f
Panama finally reaching public scrutiny, overwhelming evidence points to the involvemen t
and sanction of our own "CIA President Bush"
with Noriega's policies . It becomes increasingly apparent that our government is in th e
very least involved in the trafficking of drugs .
When asked if they really think that the U .S .
government would participate in the sale o f
drugs, the APSP replies, "They sold me . If
they'll sell people there is nothing worse o n
this earth they can do ."
Whatever your personal stance, none o f
this should, or deserves to be, excluded from
debate . In fact, exclusion is the problem . Under this system there are few means to receiv e
alternative viewpoints . The coverage of the
L .A . rebellions made clear the overwhelmin g
status-quo bias of the media against dissenting views .
According to the July\August issue o f
EXTRA!, a publication of the watchdog grou p
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting,"25 (peopl e
killed) were African-American, 19 were Latin o
and ten were Anglo ." Yet the only two attack s
. which received constant cbverage.in the the=
dia were both "black-on white" attacks . First
Reginald Denny, pulled from his truck, an d
then Matthew Haines who was shot on his
motorcycle . The media continually reinforce d
racist stereotypes by carefully choosing wha t
we got to see, read and hear . The press did
.convey the truth, but only a carefully orchestrated truth .
That is the beauty of information as control . Considering the overwhelming glut of
information we are bombarded with every
day, only those stories given the special atten tion of the white beatings came to the forefront
of public scrutiny . Any information whic h
refutes the ideology of the ruling class can be
buried in plain sight, if covered at all .
The weekend conference touched o n
many of these issues, and yet I was left wit h
questions mostly directed to myself as a whit e
activist and the apparent lack of regard w e
have for our brothers and sisters in the African
:community . The stance of the APSP holds that
,the white-left's withdrawal of support to the
Black Power movement in the late '60s was
directly responsible for the subsequent arrests and murders of many movement mem bers .
Recognizing my own ignorance of thi s
period and its history made me question the
lack of dialogue within the peace communit y
about the concept of privilege and its relationship to the issues we choose to embrace .
As someone at the conference said, "Why i s
it that the white left is willing to spend all thi s
time money and energy fighting to save dying children in Nicaragua, but they don't tr y
to stop the same thing happening here? "
This voice seemed to echo a sincer e
feeling of betrayal that too many projects —
ecological, pro-choice, animal rights—ar e
merely band-aid activisms addressing symptoms of structural injustice, and not mor e
deeply rooted issues of race and class .
I think it is time that our communitie s
actively pursue and broaden this debate . Important decisions need to be made for activists
to enact any kind of serious change in thi s
country, and nothing will happen if we don' t
begin sharing our information and our ideas .
If even the radical fringes of our disease d
society split along class and color lines ; the n
we continue to perpetuate the system . We
need to stop supporting the structures of injustice in our personal lives, no matter how good
ournpolitrcal masts Mky appear inpublic . Thi s
rfieair 8twrfitihirres diveupbothpowerand
privilegeJrjs tOh*not merely to redistribut e
wealth, but to develop new systems to mak e
the concept of personal wealth impossible .
The Solidarity Committee and the Uhur u
Movement seem to be approaching these ne w
constructs by focusing on white reparations
through community development . By agreeing to work under the tutelage of Africa n
leaders, the Committee supports the APS P
through labor and fundraising, accepting th e
issues of the Black leadership as their own .
The APSP also seems to at least attemp t
to put its theories into practice . For example ,
many leadership roles are reserved for Africa n
women, reflecting the goal of egalitarian com munity . By their own discription, " . . .half o f
our Central Committee are women ; threequarters of our Political Bureau are women ,
and half the local Party work is led by women .
The Party's main institutions and our Ministr y
of Economic Development are under the lead ership of a woman . The Party's programs and
mass organizations also involve women in
very strategic positions ." Most of the whiteled political organiations I can think of certainly couldn't hold up so well to the sam e
scrutiny .
What seemed to be missing throughou t
the event, however, was a vision of coalition
building with organizations sharing similar
interests in all communities . Whether through
lack of emphasis or lack of trying, I left Philadelphia with the distinctive impression of a
small committed group (the APSP) with a
broader based, autonomous support . I can' t
help wondering if it will ever be possible in ou r
global climate for a single ideology to form a
base for social revolution . If we hold to o
tightly to a powerful set of ideas we have the
potential to become exclusive by default, wait ing for everyone else to catch on .
Perhaps we all need to study even mor e
carefully the words of such women as Angel a
Davis and bell hooks, teaching us to celebrate
our diversity as the only means to overcom e
the incredible odds we face . That means recognizing the potential value and insights of al l
people and movements . This does not mean
that all oppressions are created equal, or tha t
all ideologies and movements should be em braced, but that the real challenge is to draw
the connections which will create an organized web of resistance .
With, quite literally our very lives a t
stake, it's imperative that we drop our liberal ,
all-inclusive values for a more discerning posture. This does not mean we embrace paranoia. It's just time that the left starts being
more conscious of the company we keep .
African Solidarity con't on page 2 1
8/92 Peace Newsletter 15
Settling In After the Armchair Wa r
Commemorating Two Years Since the U .S. Moved Into Saudi Arabia
for deb and leroy
23
and he's all decked ou t
in a brown-pine box
at arlington .
she; 21 and in shoc k
she doesn't recognize the flag
and can only wonder who in the hell's gonn a
pay the electric bill.
by Rebecca L . Roberts
ERE ARE SOME concrete things peopl e
who supported the Gulf War can do t o
insure that we learn absolutely nothin g
from it . Also, following these suggestions
means that we won't have to make any uncomfortable changes in our lifestyles .
1. Drive everywhere, all the time . Never
walk . Go on Sunday drives and pleasure trips ,
drive to the store . Better still : Get a big heav y
inefficient car and drive in luxury . Watch
President Bush's motorcade for inspiration .
Always drive alone and never give anyone a
ride . The goal is to use all the gas and oil yo u
can . Remember our boys are dying on TV so
that you can waste natural resources . Don't le t
them die in vain .
2. Take your vacations somewhere really
far off. If possible, fly a jet plane . Even for lon g
weekends, fly back south to see the family o r
attend a sporting event . In the summer, take a
cruise ship to Alaska, then fly back. Never
stay home if you don't have to .
3. Get an RV . A good big 50'one and then
tow your car behind it, or have your spous e
drive it . Add a motorcycle for trips to the R V
park store. Go to Good Am Caravans . Cara-
H
16
Peace Newsletter
8/92
van to Mexico this winter . Don't forget to
smear Vaseline Petroleum Jelly on your fac e
before going to bed .
4. Avoid doing any physical work, eve n
in recreation . Leave physical sports to the
professionals . You can have just as much fun
driving a powerboat up and down the lake a s
you could running around in a grassy field .
President Bush has a great time in his power
boat . If you golf, get a golf cart . If you mow the
lawn, use a power mower; if you trim bushes ,
get a gasoline weed whacker . You can even
use an electric knife to carve meat . TIP: An
electric trash compactor makes a great gift .
5. Only buy stuff that's packaged in plastic . Remember plastic is oil in disguise . The
best products come in a box of some sort with
plastic around that. If you are not carryin g
home 50% packaging by weight, you are no t
"shopping the war way . "
6. Heat your home with gas or oil . Turn
the thermostat way up. Say "it's not comfortable unless it's 75 and 80 is better ." Insist on
having all the restaurants and other publi c
places and events be so warm that you ca n
wear summer clothes all year round .
7. Believe the government . If it says the
war is going good, tell everyone the war i s
going good . Remember all the reasons wh y
the Iraqis are bad, and tell everyone else, too .
For overachievers: Dig out all the reasons tha t
Iran is bad, too . They will probably join with
Iran soon anyway . In fact, just hate all Arabs .
It's much simpler . We'll have to fight them al l
someday, might as well get it over with .
8. Don't l isten to the protesters. They just
think they know more than President Bush ,
but that's hardly possible . President Bush gets
secret briefings and knows all sorts of thing s
that no one else does . If anyone says there is a
problem with the war, you can tell they are a
secret protester . Don't let them in your house .
Cover your ears if they talk to you, or get int o
your vehicle and chant patriotic slogans . Tr y
"This car supports the war," then blow your
horn .
9. Get lots of yellow stuff. Ribbons for
sure, but everyone has ribbons . How about
painting your car and house yellow . Try to get
jaundice . Yellow used to be for cowards, bu t
now we are reclaiming the color for macho s
and machetes .
10. Encourage violence in the home . If
you are the smaller person in your couple, le t
your spouse beat you up. At least once a week .
It's even better if everyone drinks and yells a
lot . Be sure and let the kids see this . It's a dog eat-dog world out there, and the sooner the y
know it the better . Slap them around a little bit .
Give them spankings for all the minor rul e
infractions, and change the rules so you always win . The extra-enthusiastic person wil l
petition the school board to bring back physical punishment in the schools . This way everybody will be tough, and they'll know wha t
war is all about when they get a chance to kil l
somebody .
11. Don't think . Watch TV . When yo u
can't get the news broadcasts, watch crime
shows and war movies . Sports are O .K . too .
Be sure the kids get in the habit of watching —
it's a real good way to bring the family together and give everyone something to tal k
about when you are not talking about how wel l
the war is going . REMEMBER : "Every thinker
is one less warrior." EXTRA TIP : You prob ably don't have any, but check for Books in the
home . Sometimes the kids bring them in . Bur
n
any you find. That goes for magazines too .
Remember: it's never safe to read any bi g
words .
12. Show your patriotism. Get a flag an d
put it on your house . Get another and wave i t
every day, even if it's just five minutes before
breakfast . Put a little flag on your car radi o
antenna. If there are protesters in your town,
drive past them several times and yell at them .
"Go back to Iraq" is pretty catchy, or "If yo u
people voted, I'd leave the country" or "Get a
job ." TIP : A good patriotic quote to keep in
mind is "My county right or wrong . May sh e
always be right, but I love her most when she' s
wrong (She's cute when she's angry too) . "
13. Keep lots of guns in the home . Teach
your children to kill animals as soon as they
are old enough to pull the trigger . They can
start with the birds and cats ; dogs are OK, too .
In our town kids stand on the bridge and shoo t
salmon who are swimming upstream . TIP : B e
sure and tell kids not to shoot their own family .
Family values like that are very important i n
today's world .
14. Show some of your feelings . It's not
good to show soft emotions like sadness or
sympathy, because they are weak and help th e
enemy, but some emotions are really great to
display often and boldly . Anger, hostility ,
intolerance, rage, envy, greed, jealousy, callousness, and belligerence are all good wa r
emotions . Be proud of them, and look for
situations where you can display them . Tr y
looking at pictures of Iraq being bombed an d
saying "That cooked some of those towe l
heads" or use last year's prize winner : "That' s
what they deserve for having bad leaders . "
Make your own sayings (Call the White hous e
at 1-202-456-1111 for government approval
once you've got the slogan worked up . Don' t
worry if your slogans aren't as good as Presi dent Bush's . He has a team of paid profession als to tell him what to say because he's ou r
leader) . Try to get the kids involved, too . The y
can be remarkably cruel once you've show n
them how to do it .
db
Reprinted from On Guard, published b y
Citizen Soldier 175 Fifth Ave ., Suite 808, New
York, N .Y. 10010; (212) 777-3470.
Healing Global Wound s
"We cannot help but see that the United States and othe r
nuclear powers are testing their most destructive weapons o n
other people's land . We have a map of the word showin g
how all atomic and nuclear tests have been conducted on th e
territory of native peoples . We don't need these tests t o
prepare for destruction that will annihilate the people of the
world . We want it stopped . Nuclear oppression against an y
people cannot be tolerated . The healing must begin now! "
-Western Shoshone National Council
HE US IS PLANNING to explode at least
Tseven
nuclear weapons at the Nevada Tes t
Site in 1992, despite Russian suspension o f
nuclear testing and the conversion of the pri mary Soviet Test Site in Kazakhstan to peace ful purposes . Testing at the Nevada Test Sit e
takes place on sacred Western Shoshone land
in violation of the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valle y
and ancestral land rights . Nuclear weapons
testing, production and the mining of uraniu m
has poisoned America's air, groundwater, soi l
and people with the most deadly permanen t
toxins on earth . Ending nuclear testing is the
single most important step towards genuin e
qualitative disarmament, non-proliferation an d
the prevention of future military interventio n
and war.
Ever since the arrival of Columbus 50 0
years ago, there has been a terrible contradiction in the Americas (and around the world )
between the "discoverers" and the nativ e
people's approach to the care of the land an d
the preservation of land itself . Nowhere is that
more obvious than in the struggle over nuclea r
weapons today . Although human life has existed on this planet for about 2 .4 million years ,
only in the last half century has so-called
"civilized man" made vast tracts of the Earth
unhabitable for untold generations to come .
No developed nation tests its nuclear
weapons on its own lands. All nuclear testing
is done on indigenous people's lands . Thou sands of Marshall Islanders were radiated by
U .S . testing in the '50s, and the French hav e
tested in both Algeria and Tahiti . China tests
on Ugyur lands . In Kazahkstan, where the
Soviets tested, one of every three children i s
born with birth defects . The United States and
Britain (whose tests affected 11 different in digenous nations in Australia) now test i n
Nevada . The Western Shoshone are the right ful custodians of this land, affirmed by the
Treaty of Ruby Valley signed in 1863 . With
over 9(X) bombs exploded, they are the mos t
bombed nation in the world . Shoshone, Paiute s
and other downwind communities suffer fro m
cancer, leukemia, thyroid problems and birth
defects . In addition, 70% of all uranium reserves considered within the U .S . lie beneath
Indian lands . Navajo, Havasupai and other s
are poisoned by dust and waters from thes e
mines . In Canada, the Cree suffer the sam e
fate .
The Nevada Test Site is the only activ e
nuclear test site at this time . Russia announced
last fall that they will test no more nuclea r
weapons for one year, and the primary Sovie t
test site in the Republic of Kazahkstan ha s
been permanently shut down and is converte d
to peaceful purposes . France announced on
April eighth that they will not test for a year
and strongly advocated a total stop to al l
nuclear testing . China, which has conducte d
less than two percent of the world's nuclea r
tests, last tested in 1990 .
The Western Shoshone are inviting concerned people from around the world to joi n
them for 10 days to stop nuclear testing in
Nevada in October 1992 . A series of events
entitled Healing Global Wounds is bein g
planned for October 2-12 by the Global AntiNuclear Alliance, a world-wide network o f
anti-nuclear activists . We hope that you can
join us at this historic time . 0%
4b
Reprinted from a mailing by Healin g
Global Wounds, P.O . Box 4082, Las Vegas,
NV, 89127, (702) 386-9834 .
8/92 Peace Newsletter 17
Native Sovereignty Under Attack Agai n
John Dyer
HE STATE OF NEW YORK claim s
that Native American businesses are takng $50 million a year from the tax base . If
only the state could get their hands on that
money all their fiscal worries would be over .
What do you think ?
The government has made another mistake in dealing with the indigenous people of
the state . The government encouraged businesses in Indian Country to relieve some o f
their own financial responsibilities to the Na tive people . By shifting the burden on th e
Native communities when failure came, i t
would be on the Native people ' s heads . Th e
mistake came when Native businesses worked .
When monies began to come into the Native
communities, without the strings attached tha t
government monies always have, the govern ment was not happy .-This new form of incom e
disrupted the government's long term pater -
Ti
Assessment
nalistic control that they work so hard to
maintain . What is really at issue here is not the
taxing of gas or tobacco products . The issue i s
the self-government status of the Native Nations . The right to control the indigenou s
peoples' own destiny . The rights reserved b y
the Native governments when they entere d
into those treaties so long ago .
The question now is, "What can you non native people do?" The Native people hav e
some options (ie . the peaceful demonstration s
in the Seneca Nations) . Remember, this i s
your government initiating these actions . We
have no control or input into your government .
Here is a list of government officials that nee d
to be informed of your feelings . Do you agree
with this attack on your Native neighbors? Let
your voice be heard . Remember there i s
strength in unity . This issue will be looked at
more in depth in an article next month .
(l ,
John Dyer is an Onieda who wrtes
i frequently in these pages. He team-teaches a
course on Native Americans and Film a t
University College.
' Consultation
Counseling
List of State government officials to contact :
Assembly Members
Speaker Saul Weprin 428-9424
State Office Bldg, Syracuse, NY 1320 1
Minority Leader Clarence Rappleyea 476-657 0
117 S State St, Syracuse, NY 1320 1
Michael Bragman 452-1044
305 S . Main St, North Syracuse, NY 1321 2
Harold Brown 449-231 1
4317 E Genesee St, Syracuse, NY 1321 0
Joan Christensen 492-8663
4615 S Salina St, Syracuse, NY 1320 8
William Magee 361-4125
214 Farrier Ave, Oneida, N Y
Joseph Nicoletti 428-965 1
State Office Bldg, Syracuse, NY 1320 1
Senate Members
Tarky Lombardi 428-426 5
Nancy Larraine Hoffmann 428-410 7
Local Address for both : 333 E Washington St,
Syracuse, NY 1320 1
ARE YOU WATCHING YOU R
FINANCES WISELY ?
SHARON GRAHAM, M .A .
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAP Y
Individuals, Couples, Families, Group s
OFFICE HOUR S
BY APPOINTMENT
315-445-963 3
Syracuse, N .Y.
For information and consulting on financia l
issues such as: insurance (disability & life) ,
Mutual funds ( including socially consciou s
investments), and Tax Sheltered Account s
L403bs, IRAs, 401 K's, SEPs, and Keoghs )
MS DESSERTS
Mary Shick
Cakes,
425-7562
Candy
Italian Cookies
Baked Goods
Diabetic Goods
-:
5
WEDDINGS
BIRTHDAYS
HOLIDAYS
INSURED, INSPECTED, DELIVERED
18 Peace Newsletter 8/92
call :
637-515 3
SUSAN S . f ANSSN
Register Representativ e
Securities offered through :
Legend Capital Corporatio n
907 Butternut St ., Syracuse, NY 1320 8
422-586 8
Nestle Gulps Up Carbonated Wate r
Join the Boycott Against the Nestle Corporatio n
Aspen Olmsted
N APRIL 1992, Poland Spring, the larges t
I manufacturer of carbonated water, wa s
bought out by the Nestle Company . This bu y
out places Poland Spring Water on the boycott
list .The Nestle Company, killer of one million
infant lives a year, has been on the boycott lis t
for the better part of the last fifteen years .
The Nestle Company supplies hospital s
in developing countries with large quantitie s
of free infant formula . This free infant formul a
encourages health care workers to bottle-fee d
newborns in the hospitals . Without the sucking of a newborn child, even for a short period
of time, anew mother's lactation ceases . Sinc e
the mother is unable to breast-feed when the
child leaves the hospital, she is forced to
continue the use of infant formula .
These mothers are unable to afford th e
formula, so some dilute it with contaminated
water to expand its use . The infant formul a
directions are written in English, which the
mothers are unable to read, causing the moth ers to not know to sterilize the bottles . The
results of this improper use are malnutrition ,
diarrhea and dehydration . These condition s
are exacerbated by the infant's lack of immu nities they would normally receive from breast feeding . According to UNICEF, a million
infant lives could be saved each year throug h
breast feeding alone.
The original Nestle boycott was called i n
1977 by the Infant Formula Action Coalitio n
and the International Baby Food Action Coalition . In 1991 the World Health Organizatio n
proposed a Code of Marketing for Breast Mil k
Substitutes which was passed 96-1 by the
World Health Assembly . Guess who voted
against?—the United States—Surprise, Sur prise . This code requires infant formula label s
to provide instructions for proper use an d
include a message that breast feeding is best
Products Of Nestle Compan y
Coffee_ & Tea
Cain's coffee and tea
Chase & Sanborn Coffee
Hills Brothers Coffee
Stouffer's Food s
MJB coffee and tea
Nescafe & Nestea
Taster's Choice Instant
Coffee
Beverage & Baking Product s
Carnation Hot Cocoa & Malted Milk Nestle Coco a
Carnation powdered & evapo . milk Nestle Quick
Libby's juices and nectars
Nestle Toll Hous e
Nestle Baking Bars
Chip s
Poland Spring Water
Pet Food s
Carnation Mighty Dog
Carnation Friskies Buffet
Dr . Ballard's dog food
Stouffer's frozen foods
Stouffer's Lean Cuisin e
Stouffer's restaurants, hotels & resort s
Sea World
Soups, Seasonings, Misc .
Cain's condiments and spice s
Coffee Mate Non-Dairy Creamer
Contadina product s
Cross & Blackwell sauces & soup s
Libby's product s
Maggi seasoning & soup s
MJB rice and rice mixe s
Infant Formula
Carnation Good Nature
Carnation Good Start H .A .
Candy & Ice Cream
After Eights
Nestle fund-raising chocolates
Baby Ruth
Nestle Ice Cream Bars
Bit 0 Honey
Nestle Milk Chocolate Bar
Butterfinger
Nestle 100 Grand
Chunky
Oh Henry!
Goobers
Pearson candy bars
Kit Kat
Raisinets
Nestle Alpine White Choco .
Smarties
Nestle Crunch
WineWorld Wines
Beringer
Chateau Souverai n
Los Hermano s
Napa Ridg e
Cosmetics & Personal Care
Alcon Labs eye products
L'Oreal
Warner Cosmetics
for the infant . The code also prohibits "large"
supplies of free infant formula to hospitals .
The World Health Organization has no authority to enforce the code, so it is up to
member countries to write its guidelines int o
law .
In 1984, Nestle agreed to follow the Worl d
Health Organization code and the boycott wa s
called off. Although the Nestle Company di d
phase out its objectionable marketing practices, they continued to supply hospitals wit h
free infant formula . In 1986, the WHO passe d
resolution 39 .28 which prohibits the practice
of providing free supplies of infant formula t o
maternity hospitals .
The Nestle Company ignored the resolu tion so in 1988 the boycott was reinstated b y
Action for Corporate Accountability . The lat est boycott is still continuing and has receive d
backing from the Church of England .
If you decide to support the Nestle boycott, write to them and let them know why yo u
are no longer buying their products :
Alan C . MacDonald, President
Nestle Company
100 Manhatlanville Roa d
Purchase, N .Y. 1057 7
For more information contact Aspen a t
428-1743 .
I►
0%
Aspen is the new financial manager fo r
the Syracuse Real Food Co-op and a
member of the Syracuse Greens.
• Efficien t
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Clean 6t/tffet'' S
& DowvIspot4-Fs
Cleaning • Repairs
Preventive Maintenance
445-923 2
Many thanks to
Clean Gutters & Downspout s
for cleaning, .maintaining
and repairing SPC's gutter s
8/92 Peace Newsletter 1 9
POSITIVE RESTORATIONS
General Contractin g
INTERIOR/EXTERIOR, PAINTING, PAPER ,
DECKS, REPAIRS, DRYWALL, ELECT . ,
CARPENTRY, KITCHENS, BATHROOM S
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Dr. Howard S. Walsdorf
CROSS CREEK
FARM NURSERY
shrubs evergreen s
ann & chuck durand
rt 92
just east of manlius
682-669 4
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son and two other producers, representing national an d
regional carriers of home, auto, life, disability, health and
business insurance . Consult us for a second opinion .
Service and rates worth
tracking dow n
SKEELE AGENCY, INC.
Cazenovia/ DeRuyter Lake
Both phones Syracuse System tol l
free:
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20 Peace Newsletter 8/92
CHIROPRACTO R
treatments fun
Neck & Shoulder Pain
Lower Back Injuries
Stress Related Pain
Chronic Ailments
465 Westcott Stree t
Syracuse, New York 1321 0
Day & Evening Hours
For Appointment Call :
(315) 422-2027
Guidance in Nutrition &
Natural Remedies
Erwin Reiner
Residential
Contracting
478-2998
Restoration
Renovatio n
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passive sola r
personal servic e
reference s
Rebellions
African Solidarity
con't from pg 4
City after city went up in flames, th e
threat to white power capitalism was so grea t
that the 82nd Airborne Division was deployed
to retake Detroit .
This movement opened the eyes of a
whole generation of white youth who were
pushed to reject their assignment as future
leaders and beneficiaries of this system .
The Counterinsurgency
Declaring the Black Power Movemen t
the greatest internal threat to the security of th e
U .S ., then-FBI director J . Edgar Hoover
launched COINTELPRO, a military and political assault targeting the leading Africa n
organizations, especially the Black Panthe r
Party . Then-Attorney General John Mitchel l
vowed to destroy the Panthers by 1970 an d
succeeded through brutal assassinations, false
imprisonment, forced exile, nationally organized media slander and the physical destruc tion of Panther clinics, schools and offices .
This counterinsurgency has now bee n
generalized to target the entire African community, especially thcyoung people, to ensure
that African people would never again rise u p
to challenge white power. The government
pumps deadly drugs into the African commu nity and then uses the existence of an illega l
drug economy as political justification to im pose a constant state of martial law, with
indiscriminate sweeps, mass arrests and illegal detentions and the turning of schools and
housing projects into occupied camps surrounded by barbed wire fences .
Today, a black man is five times more
likely to go to prison in the U .S . as in South
Africa, and the African community suffer s
rates of infant mortality, homelessness, malnutrition and poverty so high that they consti tute genocide under United Nations law .
The Real Looters
Ramey says that, "civil disorder height ens the violence perpetuated against oppressed
people by criminal elements within our ow n
communities—burglars, looters, arsonists and
thieves ." But if we are honest, we must ac knowledge that European and white society is
the real looter, having built an entire world
economy off of stolen Native land, kidnap ping and enslaving millions of African peopl e
and ravaging the people's resources all over
the entire planet.
It is not for the white liberal left commu nity to tell the masses of African workin g
people the methods that they must use to
regain the resources and dignity stolen fro m
them . They have an absolute right to break ou t
of the stranglehold parasitic relationship im posed on them so that white society can live i n
relative security and peace . If you are opposed
to violence then your primary responsibility i s
to take direct action to stop the police an d
government violence being carried out agains t
the black community daily, to support th e
black community's struggle, on its terms .
Building White Solidarity wit h
Black Power
We are told that we just need to try and al l
love each other, to all just get along . Bu t
"unlearning" our racism is not going to chang e
the fact that Africans are a colonized people .
The violent oppression that they face ever y
day will only stop when they are once again in
control of their own communities, lives and
destinies .
The National People's Democratic Uhur u
Movement was formed to fight for self-deter mination for African people as the highes t
expression of democracy . This organization is
led by the Black Power Movement and is ope n
to people of all nationalities who want to tak e
a stand in defense of
the national democrati c
rights of the African
community .
I urge you to actively support the righ t
of African people to
reparations and self-determination . The firs t
step is to push back the
U .S . governmen t
counterinsurgency war
on the African community and create th e
democratic spac e
within which the Blac k
Power movement can
be rebuilt .
con't
from page 1 5
We thin-skinned whites (especially we
thinnest-skinned white males) have the furthest to go . But with a constant desire to
challenge and re-educate ourselves, and with
guidance and support, it will be a journey wel l
taken .
Dan Quayle recently came out publicl y
stating that in his opinion the problem with the
African community is that they don't have, i n
effect, white family values . To this display of
foolishness Chairman Omali answered, "I f
(Africans) had white family values, there
wouldn't be a white person left in the world. I t
has been the salvation of the white people that
we don't have white family values ." A point
well taken . 0%
I►
I would like to thank Andy, Robert and
Joy for their input and support .
Bill is the staffperson for the Syracus e
Peace Council.
SYRACUSE PEACE COUNCI L
jront Boom (Bookstore
Central Mils Peace and Justice Bookstor e
Serving the needs of our communit y
by Sandy Thompson
Coordinator for the
Philadelphia office o f
The African People's
Solidarity Committee .
The Committee ca n
be reached at (215)
727-3114.
(315) 472-547 8
( Ask about becoming
a 1= rovit Room Voluntee r
924 Burnet Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13203-320 6
8/92 Peace Newsletter 2I
«Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with you'',
- Peace Son g
(315) 478-621 4
Meg Sullivan - Chin, MA, CS W
Certified Social Worke r
Certified Reiki Practitione r
Promoting Mind, Body ,
Spirit Connectio n
HOLISTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY & HYPNOSI S
546 Westcott Street Syracuse, NY 1321 0
(315) 475-5925
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THERAPYASSOCIRE S
Mark Briggs . CSW, ACSN'
Clinical Diplomat e
Director
JOHN O'SHEA
(315) 475-950 5
60(1 East Genesee Street Syracuse . New York 13202
Syracuse Cooperativ e
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22 Peace Newsletter 8/92
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The Environmental Pollution Presiden t
a,
Read My Record •
•
I created the Council on Competitiveness," headed by Vice Presiden t
Dan Quayle, which helps industries circumvent environmental laws.
I ordered the sale of logging riqhts on four million arcs o f
American's • rowth National Forests - each ancient tree for th e
price of a s - rger.
(AN{ 19971
I blocked an international treaty to prevent ozone destruction.
q
I twice derailed international efforts to negotiate a treaty whic h
would effectively prevent gbbd warming .
IMm9i 198o
I ordered o third (some 30 m1Gon ores) of our country's protected
wetlands opened up for cormcerdal exploitation .
V
•
to
u
0
•
I refused to sign the Earth Summit biodiversity treaty, designed to
protect threatened wildlife and plants from extinction.
(Ag* 1991 1
0
(faun 1190 pd Ala,19911
My adnrnistraton is working to dismantle the Endangered Species Act.
Uue 1197 1
11997, an go.nu
My Supreme Court agreed to exempt the Federal Government fro m
fines for Meg( dapping of radioactive and other hazardous wastes.
I issued orders giving industries broad authority to pour hazardou s
pollutants into the atmosphere .
We, 1991 1
upr'191 1
Bush is quietly
gutting the
Clean Air Act .
"Americans did not fight and win
the wars of the 20th century
to make the world safe
for green vegetables. "
98 NATIONS ADOP T
BIOLOGICAL TREATY ;
Richard Darman
White House Budget Director
May 1, 1990
U .S MAY NOT SIG N
Published and distributed as a public service by the Citizen's Information Agents - The Other CI A
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